- “Indeed, on the night of the middle of Shaʿban, Allah looks upon His creation and forgives all of them except a polytheist or one who harbors rancor.”
Ibn Majah recorded it (1/422) through Ibn Lahiʿah, from al-Dahhak ibn Ayman, from al-Dahhak ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn ʿArzab, from Abu Musa al-Ashʿari, from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, who said it.
I say: This is a weak chain of transmission, because Ibn Lahiʿah is weak and his shaykh, al-Dahhak ibn Ayman, is unknown, as stated in al-Taqrib. Al-Sindi identified a defect in it on the grounds that Ibn ʿArzab did not meet Abu Musa; this was stated by al-Mundhiri.
I say: Declaring the chain defective for the reason we have mentioned is more appropriate than declaring it defective due to a break in transmission, since I have found no one besides al-Mundhiri to have made this claim. Nor does al-Tahdhib state that Ibn ʿArzab did not meet Abu Musa; rather, it mentions that he narrated from him, without further comment. This indicates that his narration from him is connected. Thus, the defect is what we have mentioned. And Allah knows best.
I then reconsidered and said: Perhaps al-Mundhiri’s basis for regarding it as disconnected is the other narration recorded by Ibn Majah and Ibn Abi ʿAsim in al-Sunnah (no. 510, my edition), through Ibn Lahiʿah, from al-Zubayr ibn Sulaym, from al-Dahhak ibn ʿAbd al-Rahman, from his father, who said: “I heard Abu Musa narrate from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, something similar to it.” This indicates Ibn Lahiʿah’s weakness and lack of precision, for he narrated this hadith inconsistently in four different ways; these are two of them.
The third: He said: Hayy ibn ʿAbdullah narrated to us, from Abu ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Hubuli, from ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAmr, attributed to the Prophet, with the same wording, except that he said: “Except for two: one who harbors rancor and one who kills a person.”